Re: Making a presentation to an audience
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg58379] Re: Making a presentation to an audience
- From: Paul Abbott <paul at physics.uwa.edu.au>
- Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 01:38:02 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: The University of Western Australia
- References: <d9r553$57f$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
In article <d9r553$57f$1 at smc.vnet.net>, "Hugh Goyder" <h.g.d.goyder at cranfield.ac.uk> wrote: > I wish to set up a slide show for a presentation to an audience using > Mathematica version 5.1 for Windows. I will use a data projector to get an > image on a large screen in a lecture theatre. This is the usual standard > wherever I seem to go. The data projector will map the computer screen on my > laptop to the theatre screen. > > Most other lecturers will use PowerPoint. Should I use Mathematica in the > slide show environment and what can I do that is better than PowerPoint? You can do computations "within" your slideshow environment. You automatically have beautiful WYSIWYG typeset equations -- that you can use and evaluate. > The following things seem to go wrong. > > 1. In Help under "creating slide shows" it suggests I use the slide show > pallet found in the menu File-Pallets. I use the pallet to give me a new > notebook which is a template for a slide show. However, the style sheet for > the slide show is that for a help browser. Text, input and output are 12 > point, section headings are in 18 point . This is clearly too small. In > PowerPoint the default text is in 32 point and headings are in 44 point. The > slide show under "creating slides shows" is clearly not a slide show for > making a presentation to an audience but a slide show to be read on a > computer screen. > > 2. I dig around and find on the Mathematica Information centre a download > entitled "Tips for Mathematica Slide Show Presenters". > (http://library.wolfram.com/infocenter/TechNotes/5299/ ) This also starts by > suggesting you begin with the slide show pallet and use the help browser as > a template. It does not contain a template for a slide show presentation. So > no progress here. There are some useful points but nothing that gets you > started. No slide show template with a good embedded style sheet. > > 3. I dig around further and find that I can have slide shows in environments > Classroom, Demo and Report as well as the help browser. The classroom > environment looks promising. I try this and find that in the slide show > environment text, input and output are in 12 point with section headings in > 16 point. This is clearly not a presentation for an audience. (Am I missing > something here what are you meant to be doing in the environment classroom > slide show?). Also, there is no help for putting up buttons that enable you > to jump to the next slide. > > 4. I am now asking some very fundamental questions: Why is there no > environment "slide show"? Where are all the style sheets (for a range of > activities) kept? Why is there no location on the Wolfram site where I can > download a style sheet for almost any application? > > 5. I am contemplating making a notebook template for a slide show > presentation to an audience. However, before I start a long task of making > many changes to a style sheet I thought I would ask the mathgroup for help > in general and the following detailed points. > > i) Has anyone sorted out a good template for a side show that is to be used > as a presentation to an audience? It will presumably contain an embedded > style sheet. Please could they send me a copy? I have used Mathematica SlideShows for my first year lecture courses on AC and DC circuits and Resonance for the last four years. These (largish) Notebooks are available at http://physics.uwa.edu.au/pub/100/2002/ One thing that I have found very useful is that I included a hidden input style in the Notebook's StyleSheet so that I can create or import graphics and then hide the code for this. I can make this code visible if I switch to Format | Screen Style Environment | Brackets and hide it again by switching back to the SlideShow environment. > ii) Does anyone know what is the correct font size to use? I think > PowerPoint may be correct with its font sizes giving about 10 lines to a > slide. Slide heading 44 point, text in 32 point. > > iii) Examples of good slides that can be used as templates. For example: > > a) A slide with heading and text (perhaps with bullet points). > > b) A slide with graphics. What ImageSize should I set for a Graphic so that > it nicely fills the screen? Use of Alt CRC to close the input cell is > probably a good trick to avoid showing all the construction details. > > c) Small Forward -Previous buttons at the bottom so that I can advance to > the next slide (so that if you extend a slide by doing a calculation you > don't have to scroll back to the top to find the point to click.) I know you > can use page down to move to the next slide but why should I have to walk to > the lectern where my computer is located and press the button. I want to use > a remote mouse to advance the slides. I agree that this would be a good idea. Alternatively, one can use an external floating navigation palette. > d) Any more good ideas or tips for presentations. Perhaps there are things > you can do in Mathematica that you can't in a PowerPoint presentation? Like run a computation? Change a parameter and re-compute. Pick up a typo and modify equations on screen? In response to a question, take an equation and evaluate or plot it using Mathematica? > If I can make a good slide show notebook that can be used as a template I > will put it together and offer it to the information centre. A good idea. Cheers, Paul -- Paul Abbott Phone: +61 8 6488 2734 School of Physics, M013 Fax: +61 8 6488 1014 The University of Western Australia (CRICOS Provider No 00126G) AUSTRALIA http://physics.uwa.edu.au/~paul http://InternationalMathematicaSymposium.org/IMS2005/